Q&A with Monika Reiss, PhD student studying feeding behaviour in Liverpool gulls

Herring gull (Larus argentatus) with litter

Photo credit: Partonez/CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

I ‘met’ Monika as I was volunteering behind the scenes for World Seabird Twitter Conference 6 in May this year, and she submitted an abstract and then gave a presentation during the conference. Monika’s work relates to the feeding behaviours of herring gulls (Larus argentatus) and lesser black-backed gulls (Larus fuscus) in Liverpool, which is certain to be of interest to RSPB Liverpool members. Hence, we had a virtual chat so she could explain more about her work, her background and what brought her to Liverpool.

Debra Williams: Hi Monika. Your Twitter presentation for #WSTC6 was really interesting, and we’ll talk about it later, but first I would love to know what first attracted you to gulls. Did this fascination with them start when you were young?

Monika Reiss: Hi Debra, thank you for inviting me to take part in this Q&A. I’ve been fascinated with animals since I remember, especially with birds and companion animals. Having said that, I saw a gull for the first time in Liverpool! I got particularly interested in gulls when I did my internship at Liverpool John Moores University. I was helping one of the researchers in gathering data about the aggressive behaviour of urban gulls. Since then, I’ve been astonished by their intelligence, behaviour and ecology, but I still think there’s much more to find out about these species, especially given that some of the gull species are endangered in the UK.

DW: And why did you decide to focus on urban gulls and their feeding behaviour in particular?

MR: I believe that not only gulls are affected by urbanisation, all animal species need to adjust very quickly to the new environment. Gulls are one of those species which are thriving in urban areas and rapidly adjust to the changes. Originally, my project was supposed to be limited to the feeding behaviours in Liverpool; however, this has changed and now I’ll also investigate their movement patterns, breeding behaviour and influence of urbanisation on the choice of nesting sites. I decided to focus on this species because I think there’s still a lot to discover in their behaviours and how they differ from their rural conspecifics [members of the same species]. I also want to raise awareness about their ecology as most people see them only as a pest, which I don’t think should be the case. It’s the role of scientists to educate people about the value of these seabirds.

DW: You are originally from Poland, but are registered for your PhD in Liverpool. What brought you here?

MR: I came to the UK to study zoology at the University of Nottingham first. Later on, I realised that animal behaviour would be a better fit for me, and that’s what I’m really interested in. I chose Liverpool because of its atmosphere and the course in animal behaviour at the university. And then I found gulls, which changed my life forever. I’ve also met a lot of amazing people in here, including my husband, and I decided that I would like to stay here for longer.

DW: And how have you found being locked-down in the city as a result of Covid-19? Are you still able to carry out your research?

MR: Being in the lockdown is not the perfect situation, but it gave me a lot of time to read and to work on my research project; I’m trying to use this free time to the fullest. While being in the lockdown, I also had the chance to participate in the earlier-mentioned Twitter conference, which was a valuable experience.

I’ve been working on my research proposal since last September, so I’m still in the very early stages. Unfortunately, right after I officially started the doctoral programme, in February this year, I had to change most of my plans. Some will have to wait until next summer, but I’m still working on this. Since the lockdown started, I’ve been planning the new methodology because I have only three years to finish the PhD, so I need to act quickly. At the same time, I’m still conducting monthly transect counts in Liverpool and North Merseyside and I’m also doing weekly counts of gulls in the city centre and parks in South Liverpool, and collecting data on their activity. I’ll be involved in more fieldwork next year, when hopefully everything is back to normal.

DW: And do you think that fewer people and therefore discarded food around the city centre has had an effect on the gulls in terms of their feeding behaviour and where they congregate?

MR: Yes! I definitely think that the ‘coronavirus effect’ has had an impact on gulls’ feeding behaviour. I’m going to compare my observations from this year with next year’s data and we could figure out how they dealt with the situation. There have been a few reports about gulls' increasingly aggressive behaviour all over the country and Europe! My friend from Rome said that it’s the first time she has seen gulls getting so aggressive towards other birds. I have personally found that there’s not that many gulls visible around Liverpool. I think breeding season played a part in it, and it overlapped with coronavirus lockdown.  Gulls need more food to feed their chicks during this time, which could make them frustrated that there's no human refuse around. This could make them travel long distances to the seaside to obtain natural food. Possibly this could also have an impact on why we don't see many of them in Liverpool city centre.

DW: I live by the river and sometimes hear the gulls squawking in the middle of the night – presumably they are feeding at low tide, even though we’d expect them to be asleep! Is this something you’ve noticed when conducting your research?

MR: Actually, before the coronavirus I was supposed to investigate the nightlife of gulls. I thought that they would be more active during the weekends when Liverpool is full of people with takeaway meals. Unfortunately, because of lockdown, I wasn’t able to develop this idea further. There’s not much research done on what exactly gulls are doing during the night, so it’s still undiscovered territory. So far, we only know that laughing gulls (Leucophaeus atricilla) definitely forage at night; scientists are not sure about the rest of the gull species. As you said, gulls most likely forage on tidal flats during the low tide; that's why you can hear them making noise at night. I think it’s worth investigating what our urban gulls are up to when we sleep.

DW: I think so too! Moving on to your Twitter presentation: it explained the results of your work on herring gull behaviour to date in the ‘four tweets only’ format used by the conference. The gifs you used gave an insight into the gulls’ behaviour. How did you find out that information and is it a very time-consuming process?

MR: It was quite challenging to put all information into just four tweets, but it was definitely a fun experience. In my gifs, I included unpublished results from my undergraduate dissertation. It took me six months to do the weekly counts during the different tidal elevations to come up with the idea that gull abundance is related to different factors including tides, temperature and number of humans around. It wasn’t really difficult to do as it was a purely observational study, but it was very time-consuming. But this surely paid off, as I based one of my methods for the PhD on what I discovered during my BSc.

DW: And how did you find participating in a Twitter conference?

MR: It was a very unique and interesting experience! It was also my first conference ever so I’ll remember it for a long time. I found the whole process incredibly easy to follow and people who worked behind the scenes – including you – were very knowledgeable and extremely helpful. I’ve met a lot of nice people and kept in touch since! I have also learnt new things about other bird species which I knew nothing about before. I believe that this kind of conference should be organised not only in the era of coronavirus, but other organisations should also follow the example of WSTC: it’s carbon-free and reaches a much bigger audience. I will also happily take part in next year’s World Seabird Twitter Conference 7.

DW: Thank you. I found being involved in WSTC last year and this year very interesting too. Finally, what are your plans for the future, after you’ve finished your PhD? More gull research or something else?

MR: I think it’s too early to say, but I would love to do more for the understanding of birds’ behaviour. I’d like to discover new behaviours, develop conservation techniques, but also educate people about the importance of birds for the ecosystem. In the future, I also want to get more involved in activities and events organised by the Liverpool RSPB group. Thank you for inviting me to this Q&A, it was a pleasure!

DW: Thank you, Monika. Keep an eye on the Liverpool RSPB group’s Events page – there are some interesting walks and talks lined up for later in the year and it would be great for you to come along. We’d also love to hear more about your research, so please keep in touch.